Local 3601 Members,

I hope you and your families are all doing well and that you are hanging in there through all of this. Here is a brief update on a few things regarding COVID19. We have been monitoring the situation, and we are continuously working through things as they come up. We are trying our best to conference call everyday with the Fire Chief and Command staff to discuss any issues or updates. 

• Quarantine Plan - I wanted to provide some clarification on what this actually means. If an on-duty exposure occurs, you will be offered the ability to self-quarantine at home OR you may self-quarantine at a location in the City. The option to quarantine in the City is a voluntary option so that you do not have to go home if you’re concerned about exposing your family. The City Manager has already agreed to pay for any hotel or other accommodation. This is a dynamic situation that is changing as hotels continue to close, but there is a running list that is being updated just in case the need arises. Labor/management have agreed to explore other options such as mobile trailers.

• CVOID19 Testing - Testing will be administered through County Health, and we are hopeful that issues we have encountered have been resolved. Testing for FD related illness should be a 48 hour turn around time now. We confirmed today, that if you are off-duty and develop symptoms of COVID or the flu, the county will test first-responders at no cost to you. Additional clarification will be put into the next revision of the PSFD COVID19 plan. That should be out this evening.

• Vacation Cap - HR has agreed to temporarily lift the vacation cap, which will be remain in effect until the city removes the “emergency declaration”.

• On-duty Exposures - Please ensure that a PSFD exposure report and AdminSure Supervisor’s Report of Injury or illness gets filled out and you get a copy for your own record. Typically, this is done by a Captain or higher.

• PER - Personal Exposure Reporting - Earlier this year we set up a L3601 account with PER, which is paid for by your union dues. This is a tool we should all use on the regular, but they recently added COVID19 exposures to it. Please go in and fill out your own exposure report, you will need basic call info like INC# and date, etc. This is a must if you come in contact with a COVID19 patient. There is too much uncertainty with information out there, so take it upon yourselves and document it just in case. Do not rely 100% on the City covering documentation of any of your exposures or injuries. Even when we take all the proper precautions, it doesn’t mean an exposure will be covered. If you have any issues with logging in, please contact Brian Davis. 

Note: Click on picture to go to the PER website.

• CPF - I spoke with Brian Rice on Monday, who is President of California Professional Firefighters. He wanted to check in on us and our guys and find out what issues we have been having. We offered him a lot of good information on the issues we had. He was meeting with the Governor that evening, so hopefully our local issues will help get some things fixed. President Rice did say that CPF is working on a plan to get COVID19 listed as presumptive. This can be done either through introducing legislation and/or an executive order by Governor Newsom. They are weighing the options, so we will keep an eye out for that and know that they will work hard to make sure it gets covered. CA has some of the best workplace presumptive protections in the nation thanks to CPF.

We are committed to making sure any exposures get treated as fully covered. We are waiting for confirmation on a few things related to workmen’s comp and Adminsure. For now, keep doing what you guys do best, and we will keep you once we hear more.

That’s all I have for now guys. Please reach out to any of the E-Board members if anything comes up or you have questions. They will be checking in on you guys, too. 

Stay safe out there,

KELSH